For-Profit Schools

News about For-Profit Schools, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Feb. 10, 2015

Editorial urges Congress to support Pres Obama in closing loophole in federal law that allows for-profit colleges to exploit veterans' GI Bill benefits, proposal that is included in 2016 budget; argues that closing loophole would be first step in cleaning up industry that has long history of deceptive or illegal practices. MORE

Nov. 30, 2014

Op-Ed article by author Eugene Linden observes that same insecurities that led people to buy encyclopedias before the personal computer and Internet are what support rise of for-profit education today; describes how his experience selling encyclopedias during college illustrated America's enduring tension between anti-intellectualism and academic achievement, and how that tension perpetuates income inequality. MORE

Oct. 5, 2014

The Upshot; market for medical assistant education is deeply troubling; federal data that tracks college graduates into job market shows that many people who graduate from such programs struggle to find work, and that those who do work often make little money. MORE

Oct. 3, 2014

Editorial contends federal student loan default data released by Education Dept underscores need for government to continue pressing both schools and loan servicing companies to educate students on plans that can keep them out of default; calls on government to crack down on predatory student loan practices, particularly at for-profit schools. MORE

Sep. 17, 2014

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sues major for-profit trade school chain Corinthian Colleges, charging that it lured students with lies about job placement and used illegal tactics to collect on student loans. MORE

Aug. 22, 2014

Editorial calls on state and federal labor officials to monitor performance of training institutions that receive funds under federal Workforce Investment Act more aggressively; contends institutions like for-profit school Corinthian Colleges that have checkered histories should be removed from program. MORE

Aug. 18, 2014

Many of the millions of Americans who have enrolled in vocational training through the Workforce Investment Act have wound up significantly worse off, accumulating debt and failing to land a new job; $3.1 billion program was created following the financial crisis, and was renewed by Congress with little public discussion of its effectiveness; analysis has shown chief flaws include lack of oversight and reliance on expensive, for-profit institutions. MORE

Jul. 17, 2014

Rep Janice Hahn of California responds to July 9 editorial calling for stronger regulation of for-profit colleges in wake of Corinthian Colleges collapse. MORE

Jul. 13, 2014

Gretchen Morgenson Fair Game column contends that in downfall of for-profit education company Corinthian Colleges, taxpayers and student borrowers will again pay for regulatory lapses; asserts that something about regulatory construct needs to change. MORE

Jul. 9, 2014

Editorial contends that collapse of Corinthian Colleges, one of country's largest operators of for-profit colleges and trade schools, as well as spate of investigations into potentially predatory behavior by such schools, makes clear the necessity for stronger regulation; calls on Congress to give the Education Dept broader authority to disqualify schools from government student aid programs. MORE

Jul. 5, 2014

Corinthian Colleges, one of the largest for-profit operators of trade schools and colleges, will largely cease operating under agreement with the federal Education Department; college has been facing heavy losses and a crackdown by government agencies. MORE

Jun. 27, 2014

Floyd Norris High & Low Finance column investigates Corinthian Colleges, operator of for-profit schools across country that have continued to benefit from federal funding and loans despite pattern of fraud that has left it on brink of bankruptcy; argues that government should stick to its guns in cracking down on colleges that put students deeply in debt only to gain useless educations. MORE

Jun. 24, 2014

Corinthian Colleges announces that it has reached agreement with Education Dept that will allow the for-profit higher education company to receive an immediate $16 million in federal student aid funds and keep operating; operates 107 campuses of the Everest, Heald and WyoTech institutions, as well as online programs. MORE

Jun. 19, 2014

Despite concerns about an emphasis on the business of education, private equity funds and investment banks are buying and merging educational institutions at a rapid pace. MORE

May. 19, 2014

Editorial welcomes Obama administration's proposed rules for dealing with predatory for-profit colleges; warns rules will need to be strengthened to fully protect students and taxpayers from the schools, which rely on federal student aid for up to 90 percent of their revenue. MORE

Apr. 17, 2014

Editorial urges Obama administration to strengthen its new rules against for-profit colleges that saddle poor students with crippling debts while giving them useless credentials; criticizes industry for pressuring the administration to water down such rules; contends for-profit schools often target poor students and lure them into questionable programs, and that move oversight is needed. MORE

Mar. 14, 2014

Obama administration will propose rule that for-profit colleges lose all federal student aid, a fatal blow, if their students fail tests of earnings and debt default. MORE

Feb. 27, 2014

Feb. 26, 2014

Eduardo Porter Economic Scene column contends that as for-profit colleges play an indispensable role in helping low-income students, filling a gap that other schools neglect, new regulations should look to improve the sector, not shrink it; notes their share of bachelor's degrees has risen to 7 percent from nothing in two decades, and makes up 20 percent of two-year degrees. MORE

Feb. 20, 2014

Seven former employees file federal fraud lawsuit against Harris School of Business and its parent company Premier Education Group, which owns more than two dozen trade schools and community colleges across nation; suit contends that schools, which charge over $10,000 for one-year programs, routinely misled students about career prospects and falsified records to enroll them, in order to maintain inflow of government grant and loan dollars. MORE

Jan. 19, 2014

Gretchen Morgenson Fair Game column; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has warned ITT Educational Services, one of nation's largest operators of for-profit technical schools, that it might seek penalties and remedies against it for possible student loan violations; ITT says its practices involving its private lending trust are legal; student loan program it initiated ended in 2012 and is becoming problematic, as many loans are defaulting. MORE

Nov. 3, 2013

Gene Wade's start-up company UniversityNow, which oversees online for-profit universities Patten and New Charter, is working to realize vision of ultra low-cost college degree for working adults; school's degrees are offered for $1,316 and $796 per four-month term. MORE

Aug. 27, 2013

Editorial welcomes suit brought by New York Atty Gen Eric Schneiderman against Donald Trump's Trump University, for-profit organization that promised to teach students how to get rich quickly in real estate; says suit offers compelling evidence that venture was little more than bait-and-switch scheme that victimized thousands. MORE

Jul. 29, 2013

Hundreds of women in New York City are deep in debt, and with little training, after attending cosmetology schools that falsified student loan applications; federal student loans are difficult to relieve, and there is no statue of limitations on their collection; New York Legal Assistance Group has contacted federal Education Dept on victims' behalf, requesting refunds, restoration of credit and immediate discharge of the debt. MORE

Apr. 14, 2013

Sen Tom Harkin, chairman of Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and who has been in spotlight for investigating for-profit colleges, answers questions about the federal role in higher education. MORE

Nov. 30, 2012

Grand Canyon University, for-profit institution in Phoenix, announces that it would join Western Athletic Conference, becoming first school of its kind to compete at the highest level of NCAA athletics; for-profit institutions have been criticized for spending more money on recruiting students and marketing their schools than actually educating them; Grand Canyon claims to be different from other for-profit universities, pointing to an expanding campus and its ascendant athletic department. MORE

Oct. 18, 2012

University of Phoenix, nation's largest for-profit university, announces plans to close more than half of its brick-and-mortar locations and lay off about 800 employees, reflecting declines for-profit higher education sector. MORE

Oct. 9, 2012

Editorial criticizes deceptive loan forbearance plans offered by for-profit colleges that often saddle student borrowers with large amounts of additional debt; contends that the federal government should investigate schools that offer the plans. MORE

Sep. 22, 2012

Owners of a historic campus in the hills of western Massachusetts announce that they will donate the 217-acre property in Northfield to Grand Canyon University, a Christian college from Phoenix that is the first for-profit Christian school in the country. MORE

Aug. 4, 2012

Editorial contends that for-profit schools are generally a bad deal for taxpayers and for the underprivileged students they often recruit through deceptive means; calls on the federal government to introduce substantial regulations for such schools. MORE

Jul. 31, 2012

Editorial calls attention to a study released by Sen Tom Harkin that suggests a disturbing pattern of misleading tactics in the for-profit college industry; notes that many such schools rake in profits while saddling students with debt and useless credentials; urges Congress to address the issue. MORE

Jul. 30, 2012

Investigation into for-profit colleges by the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee culminates in a hard-hitting report that indicts almost every aspect of the industry; report finds that taxpayers spent $32 billion on such schools in 2011, despite fact that the majority of students who enrolled in them left without a degree. MORE

Jul. 12, 2012

Editorial notes that federal Judge Rudolph Contreras has overturned a central provision of regulations meant to rein in for-profit schools and career training programs that bury students in debt while giving them valueless degrees or certificates; urges the Department of Education to revise the regulations and increase its efforts to make this industry accountable. MORE

Jul. 2, 2012

Federal Judge Rudolph Contreras overturns a main component of the 'gainful employment' rules introduced by the federal Department of Education in 2011; regulations were devised to prevent for-profit colleges, which get the bulk of their revenues from federal student aid, from leaving students with huge debt loads and credentials that provided little help in landing them a job. MORE

Jun. 26, 2012

Department of Education issues data showing that 5 percent of college career-training programs, all of them at for-profit institutions, have failed all three requirements of the department’s new gainful-employment regulations; new rules are intended to protect students from taking on high debt for worthless job credentials. MORE

May. 30, 2012

Editorial highlights study finding that college debt is more problematic for growing number of borrowers who drop out without degrees than for those who graduate; notes dropout rates are staggering for for-profit four-year institutions; urges the federal government to do more to address rising student debt and calls on colleges and universities to put in place retention programs. MORE

May. 25, 2012

Floyd Norris High & Low Finance column observes that while state and local governments spend less on higher eduction, the volume of federally guaranteed loans to students at so-called proprietary colleges, which intend to operate at a profit, continues to grow; points out community colleges, the ones most likely to offer alternatives to the students recruited by the far more expensive proprietary schools, are suffering some of the largest reductions. MORE

Apr. 28, 2012

Pres Obama signs an executive order designed to protect military families and veterans from aggressive and deceptive recruiting practices by higher education institutions, especially for-profit colleges, seeking their military benefits. MORE

Mar. 24, 2012

Editorial welcomes news that attorneys general from more than 20 states have joined forces to investigate for-profit colleges that too often saddle students with extra debt while furnishing them valueless degrees; urges Congress to do more to rein in these schools and protect students. MORE

Mar. 7, 2012

Established nonprofit private schools in New York City and new for-profit ones take divergent approaches when it comes to college planning; nonprofits tend to start the process later, when students are more developmentally prepared, while for-profits embrace the opportunity to start early, giving students time to explore their interests. MORE

Jan. 15, 2012

Mitt Romney's full-throttled endorsement of for-profit colleges on the campaign trail puts him squarely in the middle of the political debate surrounding them and dovetails with his strong believe in a free-market system that thrives on competition; Romney has received significant financial support from the for-profit college industry; industry critics and some education experts say that Romney's stance appears at odds with much of the available evidence on the cost and performance of for-profit institutions. MORE

Jan. 13, 2012

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is stepping up its scrutiny of nontraditional lenders to students at profit-making colleges and trade schools that have high rates of default. MORE

Jan. 6, 2012

National Education Policy Center reports that the number of students in virtual schools, where instruction is entirely or mainly provided over the Internet, run by educational management organizations rose sharply last year, but far fewer of them are proving proficient on standardized tests compared with their peers in other privately managed charter schools and in traditional public schools. MORE

Nov. 23, 2011

Government Accountability Office report finds that most of the commercial colleges tested by undercover investigators posing as students allowed them to enroll with fake high school graduation credentials; the investigation also found that most of the colleges violated policies on cheating and grading. MORE

{"type":"article","show_header_text":false,"header":"ARTICLES ABOUT FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS","query":"(des=\"For-Profit Schools\") and tom!=\"Caption\" and tom!=\"Correction\" and tom!=\"List\" and tom!=\"Paid Death Notice\" and hdl!=\"Paid Notice\" and dsk!=\"Society\"","search_query":"(subject:\"For-Profit Schools\") AND -type_of_material:\"Caption\" AND -type_of_material:\"Correction\" AND -type_of_material:\"List\" AND -type_of_material:\"Paid Death Notice\" AND -headline:\"Paid Notice\" AND -news_desk:\"Society\"","num_search_articles":"15","show_summary":true,"show_byline":true,"show_pub_date":true,"hide_thumbnails":false,"show_kicker":false,"show_title":false,"show_related_topics":true,"show_rad_links":true,"show_subtopics":true,"exclude_topics":"FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS","more_on_header":"MORE ON FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS AND:","alternate_index_subidx":"","show_thumbnails":true}